After the uproar caused by Attaa Jaber in Israel on Thursday following his gesture to Hamas terrorists at 0-0 Against Lebanon and wearing a keffiyeh around his neck, he and his Palestine teammates will meet Australia on Tuesday for their second match of the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. Just before the game, Australia's players decided that they would donate part of the salary they receive from the Football Association for their participation in official matches to residents of the Gaza Strip in order to provide humanitarian aid to the residents. Australian FA representatives arrived in the West Bank a week before the outbreak of war to find a place to train and stay for the match, but due to the situation the game was moved to Kuwait.
The Socceroos will donate part of their match fee from their World Cup qualifier against Palestine to humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
Football Australia will match the fee set forward by the players.
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"It's incomprehensible," Australia player Jackson Irwin told ESPN. "We're talking about one of the most complicated geopolitical issues of the last 100 years. It's something we're aware of, something we've talked about as a team and as a squad in terms of not just playing, but acknowledging what that means. For us, even thinking about the Palestinian players themselves and what this game means for them as individuals is hard to digest. We understand that football at the moment is probably not their priority in some ways."
"At the end of the day, I support any humanitarian cause," Irwin said, "The death of civilians is a tragedy in any conflict and it must be a priority for the discourse. Any other view on this leads to a very complicated conversation. In its simplest form, I think most people would call it an end."
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Kuwait, by the way, has a large Palestinian population, so both teams hope that the match at Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium will be full, even though it seats about 60,000. "Whether we go to training or a hotel, players spend 24 hours on the phone to follow what is happening," said Palestinian coach Makram Dadub. "When it comes to sensitive cases, such as the loss of children, civilians and their families, it motivates the players to respond and achieve victory in order to make the Palestinian people happy. As they say, despite the pain, there is hope."
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